Team Stats

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Score: VCU 2, Saint Louis 0Record: VCU (12-5, 4-3 A-10), Saint Louis (1-19, 0-7 A-10)Location: Cary Street Field - Richmond, Va.The Short Story: The six seniors on this year's squad went out in style, accounting for a goal and two assists in VCU's 2-0 home win over Saint Louis. The victory secured a berth in next weekend's Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament.

It looked like the Rams may start quickly for the second game in a row, drawing a penalty corner less than four minutes into the game. Senior Haley McBee got off a great look, but Saint Louis defender Lisa Smith came up with the defensive save to keep the game scoreless.

VCU would continue to control possession, but couldn't find the back of the cage until junior Steph DeMasi came up with the deflection off a corner when Kelsey Scherrer unleashed a shot off a stick stop by Chelsea Hill.

The Rams took the 1-0 lead into halftime after drawing five penalty corners and ripping off seven shots in the first 35 minutes.

Saint Louis would try and get something going early in the second half, but redshirt junior Megan Botteri turned away shots all day long, racking up five saves on the day.

Senior Melanie Marotta would give VCU an insurance goal in the 53rd minute after DeMasi drew a stroke, battling with the SLU keeper for a looseball. Marotta deposited the stroke into the corner of the cage to push the Rams' lead to 2-0.

That lead would hold up as Botteri came up with three saves in the final 15 minutes to record VCU's third shutout of the season.

Beyond the Box Score:

With virtual the same roster as last year (only two departures from last year's squad), the Rams completely reversed last year's record, going from 5-13 to 13-5.

The 13 wins is the second most in VCU Field Hockey history, equaling the total of the 2010 and 1990 squads. The record continues to be held by the 1992 team who tallied 16 victories.

After posting double-digits wins just once in a span of 17 years, VCU has now done it twice in the past three seasons

Scherrer completed the "triple crown" of VCU career records with her assist on DeMasi's first half goal. She now holds the record for career goals (53), career points (130) and is tied for career assists (24).

Hill's assist on that DeMasi goal moved her into a tie for eighth-place on the career assists list, equaling the 19 assists that Flore van Dessel racked up during her four years at VCU.

Quotable:

Head Coach Shannon Karl

"Today was an emotional game as we honored our six seniors who have done a great deal for this program. It was quite fitting that on their senior day, we were able to earn a berth in the A10 Tournament."

"I am happy and proud of their accomplishment, but our job is not done. We now turn our attention to a very talented and strong University of Richmond squad.

Senior Melanie Marotta

"I think we were solid as a team today. Saint Louis came out ready to go and really challenged us for a full 70 minutes. Fortunately, we came up with the goals and the stops that we needed to come away with the victory." one

"When we created our mission statement prior to the season, one of our goals was to make it to the A10 Tournament. To be able to accomplish what we set out to do is so special and I'm so proud of this entire team. But we're not satisified, our goals don't stop here. We now have to prepare for a very good Richmond team."

Coming up:

The Rams will spend the week preparing for the Atlantic 10 Tournament, where they will battle top-seeded and 16th-ranked Richmond on Friday. Game time in Amherst, Mass. is set for 11 a.m.